Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-01-21

think they have only lived thirty years.
They will have lived q thousand-they have
lived a thousand. There are those who
think they are eighty years of age. They
have not even entered upon their infancy,
for one must become q bahe i'll Christ to
begin at all.
Now, I do not know what your advantages
or disadvantages are; do not know what
your tact or talent is; I do not know what
may be the fascination of your manners or
The responsiveness of them; but know this:
There is for you, my nearer, field to cul-
hvate, n harvest to reap, tear to wipe away,
a soul to save. Ii you have worldly means,
consecrate them to Christ. If you have
eloquence, use it on the side that Paul and
Wherefore used theirs. If you have
learning, put it oil into the poor box of the
worlds suffering. But if you have none of
these-nelther wealth, nor eloquence, nor
iearnlng-you at any rate have q smile with
which you can encourage the dishea1tened,
. frown with which you may blast injustice,
q voice with which you may call the wan
derer back to God. ooh, You say, chat
ID very sanctimonious view of life!" 1t
is not. 1t is the only bright view of life,
and it 10 the only bright view of death.
Contrast the death scene of n man who
has measured life by the worldly standard
has measured life by the Christian stand
ard. Quinn, the actor, in his last mo-
ments said: Il hope this tragic scene will
soon be over, and hope to keep my dig
nifty to the last" AIalherbe said in his
last moments to his confessor: Hold your
tongue. Your miserable style puts me out
Of conceit with heaven" Lord Chester
field in his last moments, when he ought
to have been praying for his soul, bothered
himself about the proprieties of the sick
room, and said: "Giye Dayrolles chair"
Godfrey Kneller spent his last hours on
earth i'll drawing diagram of his own
monument. Compare the silly and horrible
departure of such men with the semphic
glow on the face of Edward Payson, as he
said IN his last moments: 1.-THE breezes of
heaven fan me. float in a sen of glory"
Or, with Paul the Apostle, who said in his
last hour: II am now ready to be offered
up, and the time of my departure is at
band. have fought tue good fight,
have kept the faith. Hencesor;h. there
is laid up for me crowa of righteousness
which the Lord, the righteous judge, will
give me" Or compare 1t with the Christian
deathbed that you witnessed in your own
household. Oh, my friends, this world is
false god! 1t will consume you with the
blaze In which it accepts your sacrifice.
while the righteous shall be held in ever
lasting remembrance; and when the thrones
have fallen, and the monuments have
crumbled, and the world has persisted, they
shall banquet with the conquerors of earth
and the hierarchs of heaven.
This is good day in which to begin a
new style of measurement. How old art
thou? You see the Christian wny of meas
uring life and the worldly way of measur-
ing it. L leave it to you to say which is the
wisest and best way. The wheel of time
has turned Very swiftly, and it has hurled
us on. The old year has gone. The new
been launched upon it, God only knows.
Now let me ask you all: Have you made
any preparation for the future? You have
made preparation for time, my deaf brother;
have You made any preparation foNeternity?
Hudson River, in indignation, tore up the
tract which was handed to him. and Just
one word landed on his coat-sleeve-the
rest of the tract being pitched into the
river, that one word aroused his soul. 1t
was that one word, SO long 80 broad, Sc
high, SO deep, eternity! A dying woman,
in her last moments, said: "Call it back.'
They said: "What do you want?" "Time,
she said; "call it back!" Oh, it cannot be
called back! We might lose our fortunes
and call them back; we might lose on,
health and perhaps recover it; We .aigh,
lose our good name and get that back but
time gone is gone forever.
Some of you, during the past year, n,ade
preparation for eternity, and it makes nc
difference to you really. as 10 the matter Of
safety, whether you 60 now or 90 some
other year-whether this year OF the next
year. Both your feet on the rock, the waves
may dash around you. You can say: "God
rs our refuge and strength very present
help" YoM are on the rock, and you may
defy all earth and hell to overthrow you.
congratulate you. Igive you great joy. Z,
is happy New Year to you.
I can see no sorrow ut all in tie fact thai
our years are going. You hear some PEG.
pie say: 81 wish could go back again Il
boyhood.' l would not want to go bach
again to boyhood. I am afraid i NIGH
make a worse life out of it than have
made. you could not afford to go back tc
boy hood if it were possible. You might dc
q great deal worse than you have done
The past is gone! Look out for the fu.
trre!
To all Christians it is time of gladness
am glad the years are going. You are
!, coming on nearer home. Let your couute.
nance light up with the thought. Nearer
home.
Now, when one can sooner get to the
,centersof things, is he not to be congratu.
lated? Who wants to be always in the
freshman class? We study God in thif
world by the biblical photograph of Him
but we oil know we can in five minutes OF
interview with frieAd get more accurate
idea of him than we can by studying him
fifty years through pictures or words. The
little child that died at six months of age
knows more of God than oil Andover, an6
all Princeton, and all New Brunswick, and
all Edinburgh, and all the theological in
stitutions in Christendom. Is it not bette,
to go up to the very headquarters Of knewl.
edge?
/ Does not our common sense teach MS
that 1t is better to be at the center than .tc
be clear cut on the rina of the wheel, hold.
ing nergously fast to the tire lest we be
suddenly hurled into light and eternal fe-
licity? Through all kinds Of optical in
strume1ts trying to peer in through the
cracks and the keyholes Of heaven-afraid
that both doors of the celestial mansion
will be swung wide open befare our en-
tranced yision-rushing about among the
apothecary shops of this world, wondering
if this is good for rheumatism and that il